Night Ride Across Middleearth
by The Lady Arianrod
Summary: Vignette. Glofindel takes Asfaloth for a ride across Middle-Earth one night, and the Elf enjoys the ancient beauty of the stars and dreams of the sea....


Night Ride Across Middle Earth by The Lady Arianrod

disclaimer: This is a little sonfic featuring Loreena McKennitt's song "Night Ride Across The Caucasus". Tolkien owns LOTR, and Loreena owns this song. 

A/n: This is something a little different. I normally wouldn't mix a song with the Lord of the Rings canon, but this one fits in quite well with the elves' point of view...........This particular one is narrated by Glorfindel.

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_//Ride on through the night, ride on _

_Ride on through the night, ride on _

_There are visions, there are memories _

_There are echoes of thundering hooves//_

  


A single rider on a white horse leaned forward with his steed, feeling the exhilarating rush of wind in his face. He sat upon the horse known as Asfaloth, breathing in the crisp night air of Middle Earth.

  


Glorfindel closed his eyes for a moment as Asfaloth leapt into the air, crossing a small ravine. For a moment he could fly into the starry expanse, the clear beauty of a silver night. His blond hair seemed to glow like a white gold in the wild night of winter as he sped across the silent terrain. 

  


_//There are fires, there is laughter _

_There's the sound of a thousand doves _

_In the velvet of the darkness _

_By the silhouette of silent trees //_

  


The millennia-old elf felt life in the surrounding forests. The dark green splendour of Mirkwood and the golden, ethereal air of Lothlórien lightly touched his mind as he felt himself being lifted on invisible wings of joy. Glorfindel let his eyes drink of the night and of this moment.

  


Glorfindel could hear the joyous music of an outdoor festival. It was a time of happiness in the Shire, a lull before a dark war would begin. He heard the laughter of the little people and could practically feel their rosy, glowing smiles through the dark night by the fireside. 

  


A gentle smile came to Glorfindel's mouth as he held on to Asfaloth's flaxen mane. The moonlight made the horse and rider seem to glow with an otherworldly, gleaming silver sheen. The elf rode on, wanting to see more of the Middle-Earth he so loved.

  


  


_//They are watching, they are waiting _

_They are witnessing life's mysteries _

_Cascading stars on the slumbering hills _

_They are dancing as far as the sea //_

  


The golden-haired elf turned his pale gray eyes upwards to the heavens. There he saw the twinkling dots in the dark expanse, the ever-turning orbs of white light. It seemed that tonight there was a rain of silvery drops upon the land, covering the silent earth with celestial beams.

  


Glorfindel sighed happily, never tiring of the stars. He looked to the west, his eyes reflecting the starlight, as he imagined what beautiful lands lie beyond the Gray Havens. There was the ocean, he remembered. It was that beautiful blue mass of glassy tranquility and unspoken mystery.

  


Beyond even the sea was Valinor, the home of the Valar. Glorfindel thought of the old songs about Elbereth the Star-Kindler:

_A Elbereth Gilthoniel,_

_silivren penna míriel_

_o mengel aglar elenath!_

_Na-chaered palan-díriel_

_o galadhremmin ennorath,_

_Fauilos, le linnathon_

_nef aear, sí nef aearon!_

  


Glorfindel's dreams took flight with the ancient beauty of this song. He thought only of the ocean, and his heart was shining with pure desire to see it.

  


_//Riding o'er the land, you can feel its gentle hand _

_Leading on to its destiny _

_Take me with you on this journey _

_Where the boundaries of time are now tossed //_

  


Glorfindel the Elf felt as if had crossed back into another Age as he beheld the wild beauty of this night in Middle-Earth. He felt himself being drawn to the purest of beauty; he was being called by the voices of the stars. 

  


Asfaloth whinnied happily, sensing that his rider was also in the highest state of joy. They did not need wings now to soar into the great mystery of this cool, fair night.....

  


_// In cathedrals of the forest _

_In the words of the tongues now lost _

_Find the answers, ask the questions _

_Find the roots of an ancient tree _

_Take me dancing, take me singing _

_I'll ride on till the moon meets the sea//_

  
  


Glorfindel spoke to himself the silent words of the song of Elbereth as he slowed Asfaloth to a stop next to a great and dark forest. The ancient beauty of Middle-earth was bold in the velvet darkness of late Winter as the blond elf dismounted.

  


He looked up at the sky through the trees, and laid a hand on the unmoving bark of an ancient rowan tree. He ended his song and smiled, for he heard a song greater than his own voice on the wind.

  


It was the unfathomable, distant rhythm of the ocean, silvery and flowing, as it called to him on this starry night. Glorfindel wandered throughout the forests, entertained by dreams of the sea filling his thoughts. 

  


  


  


  


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end note: Isn't that a perfect elf-song? It that isn't, then I don't know what is. Anyway, I love Glorfindel, so I decided to write a bit of fiction for him. This is just a little time for the Elf to enjoy himself.

  


Tell me what you thought. Did I capture a bit of the elf spirit in this, or didn't I? 

  


Reply please!

  


P.S I don't know what that song means, for I cannot speak in Elvish.

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  



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